Coping Mechanisms
by wilfred the pickle
Summary: After they find out Chance's secret, each Viral has a different method of coping with the revelations. Takes place directly after Exposure, and can serve as a semi-epilogue. Spoilers for all four books.
1. Denial

**A/N: This takes place directly after Exposure, as in, **_**directly**_** after. As a result, there are massive spoilers. Last warning!**

**The dialogue in italics below is taken directly from the book Exposure written by Kathy and Brendon Reichs, and I mean no copyright infringement by it.**

**Enjoy!**

oOoOoOoOo

_Chance hesitated. Looked from Ben to Hi to Shelton to me. Then he smiled sadly. "You're not the only Virals anymore."_

_Chance's eyes ignited with molten red light._

The atmosphere in the room is beyond tense, for a few unbearable moments. At first, Tory wants to shake her head and laugh; the very notion that Chance could now be a Viral, one of them, is absurd. Absurd, and yet makes perfect sense. The feeling of raw connection and power she gets just from touching Chance, the way that the bonds she visualizes in her mind between each pack member only glow brighter and stronger as she draws closer to him, the sensation of an unexpected, powerful flare creeping up on her like it could take her at any moment…it's all too much.

"How?" she breaths, eyes wide. Haltingly, she takes a step back, back into the comfort of her pack.

Chance lets slip another tear, and Tory watches it trickle down his face and off his chin. "I'm sorry," he says, tongue flicking out to wet his dry, cracked lips. "I'm a fool. I know. But I will say this…I'll help you in any way I can-"

"Help us how, Chance?" Ben steps forward, voice deathly quiet. Tory almost expected Ben's reaction to be…louder, angrier, more visceral. But Ben appears completely calm, albeit the twitching of his left eye that Tory knows manifests when he is enraged beyond all doubt.

"Ben…" Shelton says warningly, as Hiram stops himself from placing a hand on Ben's shoulder.

"Why did you even think it would be a good idea?" Ben asks with the same calm tone. "Tell us, Claybourne."

Chance remains silent, eyes flickering between Tory, to Ben, to Hi and Shelton, back to Ben.

Ben slams a fist into the wall angrily, calm composure suddenly disappearing into thin air. "_Answer the question!"_

"I…" Chance exhales heavily. Closes his eyes. When he opens them, they look more watery and bloodshot than ever. Tory can't remember Chance ever looking this hesitant, this broken, even when he was still questioning his own sanity. _Your fault, _she thinks guiltily. _Your fault all this has happened._

Chance smiles his sad smile again. "I don't know," he says, shrugging helplessly. "I'm not…I haven't been right. Not for a while."

"Damn straight you're _not right_," Hi mutters under his breath. Shelton whacks him on the shoulder subtly, but Chance simply chuckles.

"I know," he says again, and the room lapses into another uncomfortable silence. It continues for a few tense moments, before Ben speaks up again.

"So what are you going to do about it?" he asks, adopting the same even tone as before.

Chance frowns. "Pardon?"

"What happens next?" Ben raises his eyebrows. "Did you think this through at _all?"_

"Honestly?" Chance runs his fingers through his hair. "No. I have no excuse, and I deeply, deeply regret my decision."

Ben is silent for a few moments, fuming quietly, and then turns to Tory. "Well?" he asks sharply. "Is this okay with you, Tor?"

"I…" Tory's throat goes dry at the reality of having to make a decision this large, of having a responsibility so huge it could land her and her friends in massive trouble. Letting Chance in closer could be a big mistake, but shutting him out could be even worse. The guy had obsessed over finding out their secret, invading their privacy and practically stalking them, but only because Tory had made him think he had gone insane in the first place. He was arrogant, cold, and often self-absorbed, but before they'd gained their powers he'd been a genuinely nice guy. Should she let Chance redeem himself and possibly lose Ben in the process, or shut him out and possibly damage him even further?

Tory chooses neither. Instead, she shakes her head, whispers a quiet "_I don't know_," and suddenly races outside, running down the hallway and out of sight.

"Tory!" Ben shouts, stepping forward to run after her. Hi and Shelton hold him back, each taking one of their friend's shoulders.

"Let her be alone," Hi says quietly, pulling Ben back gently. "She needs it."

Ben stands still for a few seconds, breathing heavily, before turning wild eyes on Chance. "This is your fault," he growls, eyes suddenly flashing a dark, electric yellow. "Why couldn't you just leave us _damn well alone_?!" he suddenly yells, wriggling out of Hi and Shelton's grip and launching himself at Chance.

"Ben! No!" Shelton and Hi both rush forward and try and grab him, but Ben is flaring, and is simply too strong. Luckily for him, Chance is flaring too, and the fight soon ends in a stalemate - Chance pinned beneath Ben, hands around his throat, blood gushing from his nose, and Ben with a black eye, holding Chance down. Both are breathing heavily, eyes wild and bright with their own flares.

"I'm sorry," Chance breaths, loosening his grip around Ben's throat. Ben growls another time and reluctantly releases the other man, and they dust their clothes off.

"You should be," is the only thing Ben can think of saying, too angry and hurt to form proper sentences.

"Is this how Tory would want us to behave?" Shelton asks pointedly, uncharacteristically angry.

"Not at all." Chance looks Ben dead in the eyes, and both at once, their flares die. Both breathe a sigh at the sudden lack of energy and dulled senses.

"We need to go find her," Ben says, running a hand through his hair. "It's dark, and she has a bad habit of getting in trouble. Do the math."

"I think my nose is broken," Chance says quietly. Ben's eyes flash, but he says nothing.

"I'll take you to the ER, get it checked out," Hi says. "Ruth will kill me if I stay out late thanks to Tory _again_."

"I'll go look for her," Ben growls but Shelton stops him.

"No, I will," he says evenly. "Ben, I don't think you're in the….best state of mind right now, man."

"What are you saying, Shelton?" Ben asks, eye twitching.

"He's right, dude," Hi says hesitantly. "I mean, you did just went crazy and attacked someone. Why not go home and channel all that anger into destroying an actual punching bag instead? Much healthier. For both parties involved."

Ben pauses, looking down at his feet. "Fine," he finally spits out. "But if Tory is hurt, then _you_-" he jabs a finger at Chance, "-will be in a world of pain tomorrow. You hear me?" He stalks out of the room, not looking back once.

Shelton sighs. "I'd better go look for her," he says, turning towards the door. "Sorry about your nose, Chance."

"_I'm_ sorry about Ben's eye," he replies. "At least I got a hit in."

"Keep us updated on Tory," Hi says, taking out his phone. "She can't have gone far, she's only been gone a few minutes." He pauses. "But this is resourceful, cunning Tory Brennan we're talking about here, so she's probably halfway to China right now."

"I'll find her," Shelton promises, though she sounds worried. "Even if I die trying. Which I probably will. She's probably locked herself into a high-security bank safe or something and I'll have to risk the death penalty for breaking in and letting her out."

"I can pull security camera footage and see if she's left the building already," Chance offers. The two of them look at him strangely. "I want answers about this…virus just as much as you do," he says, answering their unspoken question. He taps a few keys, eyes hovering over the screen of his laptop for a few moments, and sighs. "She left a few minutes ago. Cameras outside show her walking straight down the street, but she's already gone out of range."

"Jesus, that girl is a fast walker," Shelton breaths. "All right, I'm going. I'll keep you updated, 'kay?"

"Sweet," Hi says. "Keep safe! You never know what's lurking in…" He pauses for dramatic effect. "The _daaaaaaaark_."

"Wow. I'm shaking," Shelton quips, before waving goodbye and leaving the room.

Chance exhales. "I hope he finds her."

Hi raises an eyebrow. "I think we all do, buddy. Now c'mon, let's get that schnozz of yours looked at before it explodes all over your face or something."

oOoOoOoOo

When Tory was little, maybe four or five years old, she'd asked her mother where her daddy was.

Her mother had laughed - bitterly, Tory realised. Now that she was older, she recognized that mirthless laugh for what it was, filled with regret and sadness. Her mother always wished that she could reconnect with Kit, and had never gotten the chance. Now, Tory could speak to her father everyday, lived with him even. Even though she's agnostic, she hopes her mother is watching from somewhere, and is happy for her daughter.

Tory has never liked change. When they moved states when she was six, she'd hated it and refused to go outside until her mother promised her copious amounts of ice cream. When her mother was in the accident and Tory had to move yet again, this time without the comfort of her mom, she'd almost ran away instead of moving in with Kit. Now, after finally, finally settling in properly and given four - _five_, she smiles, thinking of Coop - great friends, perhaps the greatest of her life, her new-found stability had been ripped away from her with six little words.

_You're not the only Virals anymore._

She wants to cry. She wants to throw up. She wants to punch Chance in the face. She wants to punch _herself _in the face.

She wants her mom.

She sits down on the sidewalk suddenly, not really sure where she is. It's dark, and half the streetlights aren't working properly, leaving her mostly hidden by the lack of light. The street is abnormally silent, making her feel even more alone.

Sometimes she thinks the world expects too much of her. On the outside, she's strong, smart, confident. While not exactly popular at school, a lot of people secretly wish they could be like her - unflappable even in the toughest of situations. She's skipped a few grades, solved a few mysteries, stood up to a few schoolyard bullies. She's a solid leader, and a loyal friend. She's handled every obstacle her life has thrown at her with ease, and yet she feels more broken now than ever.

She's only fifteen - really, still a child, as her mother would probably say.

Of course, Tory will never know what her mother will say about her, because she's already gone forever, and Tory left so many things unsaid that she wants to scream them out in the middle of the street, banishing the thoughts from her mind forever.

Tory doesn't know how to handle Chance. On one hand, she feels more guilty than she thinks she ever possibly could about lying to him, manipulating him, toying with his mind. On the other hand…Chance has kind of been a jerk to them. She doesn't think everyone is capable of being redeemed - she's not that naïve, but she wonders if it would be so bad giving Chance….well, a _chance._

Then she thinks about what Ben's reaction would be. What he'd say to her, make her feel. Why does she care so much more about what Ben thinks of her than what Hi or Shelton think of her?

She knows why.

_The kiss_, her mind sneers. _You've got a cruuuush! _

She doesn't bother to try and silence the voice in her mind anymore. She's used to it by now.

No, she decides. _I need a time out. _

So she sits there, in the dark, with no clue where she is, and simply forgets who she is. Forgets about Chance, about Ben, about her mother, about her virus - and simply sits there, admiring the cracks in the pavement, waiting for someone to find her.

oOoOoOoOo

_You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously._

_J. Donald Walters _

oOoOoOoOo

**Don't worry, Tory **_**will**_** get some closure! So, which one of the Virals should I focus on next - Hi with Chance at the ER, Shelton looking for Tory, or Ben making his way home? I have a chapter planned for each of them, but I'm not sure who to do next. This fic will have five chapters, six if I suddenly have random inspiration. There should be an update coming within the week, so stay tuned.**

**Since the character tags only let me tag four people and this fic focuses on five, I'll just list all the characters who will make an appearance in this story: Tory, Ben, Hi, Shelton and Chance will all feature heavily, while Ella, Jason, Whitney and Kit will all probably make appearances at some point. **

**If you enjoyed the first chapter of this fic, then you'd probably also enjoy my other Virals fic **_**He Who Fights Monsters**_**, which has been edited for typos and mistakes! Reviews for both pieces are adored. Thank you for reading, and I hoped you enjoyed!**


	2. Acceptance

**Thank you for the lovely reviews! They made my day C: Yeah, when I said I'd have the second chapter up in "a week", I guess I meant two. Sorry about that. **

**Warning: This chapter includes heavy character focus, a little bit of headcanon, and lots of talking. I am not Jewish and have little to no knowledge of how a real Jewish funeral works, and though I did do research on the subject there may be errors. (Not that I went very into detail with the funeral, but it never hurts to have a disclaimer…)**

**I tried to stick as close to canon as possible, and with as little as we know about Hi's life except that he comes from a strict Jewish family and was the newest addition to the island before Tory, it was kind of hard. Thusly, this chapter has some headcanon of mine that may or may not be disproved by future installments in the series (but it probably won't, seeing as what little backstory we get in this series argh). I was biased towards writing this chapter next, partly because Hi is my favourite character and partly because I wanted to get Chance out of the way for a while, truthfully. **_**For a while **_**being the key words. XD **

**Enjoy!**

oOoOoOooOoOo 

"Just have a seat over there sirs, and a doctor will be with you shortly."

"Thank you, ma'am." Hi keeps up his best poker face, saluting to the receptionist behind the desk. She raises an eyebrow, and Chance rolls his eyes.

"Pay no attention to him," he says dryly, although it doesn't have the same effect as he'd hoped; he sounds more than a little silly, with a tissue held to his nose, head thrown back and blood drying above his lip.

The receptionist gives him what is possibly the most loathing stare of all time. "Just take a seat, _sir_."

"Will do." Hi flashes her a toothy grin and strides over to the magazine rack. "Oh wow, _Raw Denim Weekly_. Exactly the kind of thing I want to read on a weekly basis." He thumbs through the rack some more. "Ooh, _Pocket Watch Monthly_. Definitely the most useful thing I'll read this month." He pauses. "_Cosmopolitan_! Lucky me!"

"You know, you don't have to be as loud as your shirt," Chance comments, irritated. The other people in the waiting room are beginning to stare at them in a mixture of anger and incredulity.

"Rude!" Hi flops down into one of the cheap plastic chairs. "And I was just finding the right magazine - wait, what's wrong with my shirt?"

"Nothing," Chance smirks. "It suits your personality."

Hi frowns. "I'll take that as a compliment," he says smoothly.

One by one, people begin to filter out of the waiting room, taken away to be examined by various doctors and nurses. Chance only has a broken nose, and is thusly at the bottom of the waiting list. Not that he minds - it's a chance to ask some questions he's been wanting clear answers to for a while now.

"So," he begins, thumbing idly through a magazine as the last person leaves the waiting room. "You seem to be taking the news rather well."

"What news?"

Chance blinks. "That I was foolish enough to pry too deeply into your business. That I was insane enough to inject myself with a virus that could have potentially killed me. That now I'm just like you."

Hi snickers. "You're not just like me. You're much more mature and civilized. You're practically British."

"You know what I mean. Doesn't it bother you?"

Hi pauses. "Yes," he says slowly. "Yeah, I think it kind of bothers me that you've been kind of a jerk recently. Yeah, it's kind of weird that my only friends used to be the only special ones, and now there's…_you_." Hi shrugs. "But to be fair, you weren't exactly the definition of mental wellbeing."

"I'm still not," Chance says quietly, looking down at his feet.

Hi only smiles. "You're better," he assures him.

Chance manages a tired smile. "So what happens now?"

Hi leans back in his chair, whistling. "I don't…I don't really know, to be perfectly honest. I know Ben and Tory kinda freaked out over it, but-" he takes a deep breath, "-I think we'd all appreciate that help you mentioned. Figuring out how this thing has changed our DNA, if it's for worse or better…it's important."

Chance nods. "Believe me, I'll do whatever I can. Maybe I can use some of the Claybourne fortune for good. I'd be the first," he adds. It's meant as a joke, but instead comes out as a bitter and self-loathing.

Hi is silent for a moment. "You know," he says finally, "I don't think this is a bad thing."

Chance frowns. "I'm sure you're the only one who shares that sentiment."

"I don't mind change," Hi says, and it's the truth. "Well, I do, like if suddenly I woke up in an alien spaceship and they told me that I was a test subject all along and that my entire life was a lie, I'd mind it then."

"But you adapt well," Chance guesses.

Hi nods. "I guess. Better than others, maybe. When I first moved here I thought I was gonna be the only teenager at Loggerhead and that it was gonna be boring and I would hate it. Turns out, there's two other guys that I can hang around and be a doofus with. Plus, the scenery is beautiful." Hi shrugs. "Point is, I ended up loving it. It's a hassle to get to the synagogue on time, and we have to catch a freaking boat just to get to school, and there are wolves everywhere, but I still love it."

"I'm the opposite," Chance replies with a grimace. "If I tell myself I'm going to hate something, I'll end up hating it regardless of whether it's really all that bad. Not the greatest habit to have."

"Habits are hard to break," Hi smiles thinly. "But seriously, change is healthy. If things didn't change, we'd never grow and learn."

"Sometimes things change for the worse."

"Nothing ever changes absolutely for the worse. Some time, somewhere, there's someone or something who's a little happier from a change someone else made." Hi sighs. "Well, that's my, uh, opinion."

"I wasn't expecting to have such a…philosophical discussion with you when we arrived here," Chance admits.

Hi laughs. "Yeah, I'm probably the person you'd least expect to have a conversation like this with. I kinda think about this a lot, I just haven't really had the chance to talk about it."

Chance raises an eyebrow. "Really?" 

"People think I'm a doofus, and I am really, but I also do a lot of thinking. Usually I'm just being a dumbass, so people overlook it."

"Is that how you cope with change too?" Chance asks, genuinely interested.

Hi shrugs. "I put on a brave face so I don't have to see the people I love around me suffer. Smiling all the time gives the impression of not particularly caring, I find."

Chance takes a moment to reflect. "I haven't smiled genuinely for a long time," he realises.

Hi nods. "Sometimes it's hard," he says, staring out into the window at the car headlights flashing past. He doesn't add anything more, and the silence in the waiting room grows. Hi wonders if the receptionist can hear them from all the way on the other side of the room, but she's put headphones in her ears and began reading a magazine - _Cosmopolitan_, Hi gleefully notes.

The silence is broken when Chance clears his throat. "So. The virus. What does it do?"

"Huh?" Hi looks up.

"It makes our eyes glow yellow - red, for me - and gives us certain…."

"Superpowers?"

"_Uncanny abilities_," Chance decides upon. _Superpowers_ seems like much too childish a word. "Or heightened abilities."

"Yeah, and we all have different specialties," Hi replies. "Like Ben turns into the Hulk, Tory can smell a fart from another continent, Shelton can _hear_ the fart from another continent, and I can see in…" Hi pretends to flick his hair and grins at Chance. "…_Hi-definition_."

Chance grimaces. "Wow. That was a wonderful pun. Really."

Hi smiles. "I've been wanting to use that forever. So what's your specialty?"

Chance blinks. "I haven't really had the chance to find out."

"…Did you just make a pun?"

"What? No, I…How else could I have phrased that sentence?!"

"There were plenty of others ways and you know it," Hi smirks. "So you don't really know if you have any kind of specialty?"

"Like I said, I haven't had the time or the bravery to try and find out."

"Hmm." Hi folds his arms and leans back in his chair, a thoughtful expression upon his face. "You know, us four all have powers directly tying into one of the five senses, and the only one missing is touch."

"What about Cooper?"

"Coop has…Coop has his own little doggy powers." Hi shrugs. "We, uh, don't really know about Coop's powers. He can't tell us, after all. Maybe one day he'll be able to speak English. That could be his thing. He'd be like that dog in those books about the talking dog."

"Right," Chance says flatly. "Perhaps I have a different set of powers to yours. It _is_ a different strain of the virus, after all."

"Yeah," Hi says thoughtfully. "And your eyes glow red instead of yellow. You should do a few test runs someday, figure it out."

"Perhaps." Chance hesitates. "I'm not entirely sure how much damage this virus would do to my body, however. It could be harming us, rather than helping."

"Also true." Hi sits forward slightly, reaching over for another magazine. "I don't think that's something we should dwell on too much." 

"That these powers may be killing us? Doesn't that seem like a very pressing matter to you?"

Hi shrugs, letting his eyes skim the magazine idly. "Well, yeah. But I'm not going to focus on that. I have these powers now - _we_ have them - and I think that if we use them responsibly and actually _help_ people with them, it won't matter that they're shortening our lifespans or whatever. It's kind of like we're giving some of our lives to other people."

"That seems rather idealistic for a high school student." _And slightly morbid, _Chance thinks, _if he enjoys the feeling of metaphorically giving his life away to others._

"What? We've already saved lives." Hi looks Chance in the eyes, uncharacteristically serious. "I didn't think much of it at first, but then I realised…what I've got - what _you've_ got - is huge. We've got the power to change lives, for the better or for the worse. Why not take the chance to make the world a better place to live in?"

"The entire world?" Chance almost laughs. _What can a high school student do to change the entire world? _

Hi smiles thinly. "I don't think it's impossible," he says simply, and the two lapse into a strangely comfortable silence.

oOoOoOoOo

When Hiram Stolowitsky was small - five, maybe six years old - his grandmother passed away.

It was a solemn time in the Stolowitsky household. His parents - even his mother, who had only lost her mother-in-law, was teary-eyed. All of the family gathered for her funeral, people who Hi couldn't even remember seeing again before or after the occasion. It wasn't a happy time for anyone - everyone wore black, Hi included. Hi had protested violently at the thought of wearing all black; his wardrobe mainly included bright Hawaiian shirts and colorful flip-flops.

"Do I _have_ to wear this?" he remembers complaining to his mother. "This - what did you say it was - tuck-see-dough?"

"_Tuxedo_," Ruth had stressed, smoothing him down. "Yes, you do. Your grandmother would have liked it best this way."

Hi disagreed, and decided to do something about it.

Sneaking off had been surprisingly easy. Hi wonders now if it should have been so easy for a five year old to sneak off unattended in a crowd full of people he barely knew, but he reached his destination unharmed. When he returned, his mother had been shocked to find him dressed not in his tuxedo, but back in his bright yellow Hawaiian shirt, flip-flops, and a straw hat.

"Hiram Stolowitsky!" she had thundered, storming over to her son. "Where did you even get those from? Change back right now young man, or I'll-"

"I don't wanna!" Hi protested. 'I don't like that stupid thing. It looks silly."

"It's _respectful_," Ruth snapped. "Why on earth would you want to wear…that?"

"Nana liked it when I wore bright colours," Hi had answered earnestly. "She said it reminded her to be happy."

After that, Ruth hadn't objected to Hi's choice of clothing ever again.

Hi is used to being the one that others turn to during times of crisis - not necessarily consciously, or realizing it was Hi that they want. If there's one thing Hi does extraordinary well, it's lightening the mood. He was making others laugh from the day he was born, and has only honed his talent ever since. The pack has managed to form an unspoken rule: if Hi is still joking, the situation isn't at its worst yet.

Hi wishes they'd realises that his jokes aren't necessarily something he can control anymore.

Now he does it out of sheer habit - the desire to be liked, combined with a friend circle that he has inexplicably become the designated clown of, and the desire - _need_ \- to see his friends happy and laughing. If Hi can distract them from the horrors of a situation with his bad humour and wacky style, then he's succeeded, and he can rest in the knowledge that he's helped out in his own little way. But sometimes he doesn't necessarily want to be the clown, and yet he jokes again anyway. Sometimes he doesn't think his weird, off-the-wall brand of humour is entirely appropriate, but his mouth runs ahead of his brain and conjures up some snarky comment that goes largely ignored.

And so it was settled. Tory may be the leader, but Hi is the glue who keeps his pack together, who guides them through the rough patches so that they may come out the other side unscathed. Though he's not unaffected by the horrors that somehow manage to befall them every few months, he likes to think that his jokes do them good, even if he struggles as a result.

A pack looks out for their own, after all.

oOoOoOooOoOo

_The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance._

_\- Nathaniel Branden_

oOoOoOooOoOo

**So that was a little…heavy. And a little bit of bonding between Hi and Chance. In another world, I think those two would actually get on kind of well. Hi seems to be able to get along with just about anybody if he doesn't have a grudge against them…**

**A friend of mine said that Chance wouldn't be taken to the ER for a broken nose, and…embarrassing story of mine, I totally did go to the ER - aka, the **_**emergency **_**room**__**\- because my teacher thought my nose was broken and the darn thing was projectile bleeding all over the place. It **_**was**_** broken, and a bad break too, but the teacher said she just kind of panicked at all the blood and thought I would bleed to death, and subsequently thought it was an emergency, and in hindsight, I probably could have just gone to the doctor's. The ER had a waiting room, but others I've been too haven't had them and you just sort of find a place to sit amongst the hubbub. Maybe it's a New Zealand thing.**

**Next chapter is Ben, because I don't really know how to write Shelton and I'm kind of freaking out a little for his chapter. /dies**

**Reviews are, as always, adored. Thank you for reading! :D**


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